Generally, online retailers lack a physical location. Instead, they substitute an ‘online presence’, typically web pages or other user-interfaces that customers can access using an application such as a web-browser or media management application running on a personal computer or other device (e.g., a portable media player).
Traditional retailers (sometimes called ‘brick-and-mortar’ retailers) often have an online presence as well, selling products online as well as in a traditional retail environment. The typical method for accessing an online retailer, whether or not the retailer has traditional retail stores, is over the Internet. However, it is becoming more common for traditional retail establishments to install networks that are accessible by their customers while in that retail establishment. For instance, it is now fairly common for coffee shops and fast food restaurants to have patron-accessible wireless networks such (e.g., WiFi networks) that can be accessed by anyone with a wireless computer or other wireless device, though sometime a fee or membership is required to utilize the wireless networks.
Presumably, the installation of a retail establishment patron-accessible network encourages the patrons of a retail establishment to connect to the Internet or private networks (e.g., VPNs) from that retail establishment's network. There are many reasons why the patrons of any particular retail establishment might want to connect to a retail establishment's patron-accessible network. For example, a patron might want to check an email account or ‘web-surf’. It is also conceivable that a patron will want to purchase something online using the retail establishment patron-accessible network. If so, that patron will typically connect to that retail establishment patron-accessible network, access an online store over the network, make the desired purchase, and then leave the online store. Conventionally, the online store will treat that patron's purchase as if it were any other purchase made by that patron from anywhere on the Internet. The fact that the online purchase was made from a retailer's patron-accessible network is irrelevant to the purchase.